Chapter Twelve

Part 3

After calling off my mother and telling her to wait for me to contact her, I stormed through the gym and out the door that led to the main hallway. I was upset, confused and totally disillusioned after the debacle with Marshall. I couldn’t believe it. It was Jon. Jon was the bad guy. And he had made me fall for him! I felt as if my heart was deteriorating inside my chest. I had to confront him and I had to do it now. I was about to slam through the front door to take a shortcut across the main parking lot when a deep voice stopped me short.

“Ms. Sharpe.”

I closed my eyes. Not now. Please not now.

When I turned around I fully expected Headmaster Cox to be standing there with a triumphant smirk on his face, ready to harass me. After all, he’d caught me breaking the rules yet again—out of my room after midnight. But much to my surprise, the headmaster appeared nervous—even scared.

“All right, you’ve got me,” he said, spreading his arms out. “I suppose you’re horrified, appalled.”

My brow furrowed as he took a few steps closer to me. What the hell was this guy talking about?

“Well, let me tell you something, missy. If you think that running a school like this is easy, you’ve got another thing coming,” he said, his jowls shaking. “At least I try to understand these kids. At least I pay attention. You should have seen my predecessor. She was totally clueless. Thought she could control them. Well, I’m here to tell you it’s just not possible. It may seem like a radical idea to you, but you’ve got to let kids let off steam. Otherwise, they just run all over you.”

“Ooooookay,” I said. “Look, Headmaster Cox, as much as I’d love to stand here and listen to you pontificate about your job, I kind of have somewhere I need to be.”

“Going to tell your mommy, are you? Going to report about our monthly soiree?” He was growing red in the face. And suddenly, finally it hit me. He did know about the monthly party and he did turn a blind eye. And he was standing here, delaying me, because he was worried that I was going to tattle on him. No wonder he hadn’t wanted a spy installed at Hereford. He feared for his job.

“You know what, Headmaster? If you want to allow your students to get trashed every month and risk their lives and your position here, that’s your prerogative,” I told him. “Right now, I have a job to do.”

I turned and walked out into the cold again, leaving him flabbergasted behind me. Somewhere in the back of my mind I made a mental note to tell my mother all about Cox and his exploits. It would be my pleasure to get him fired.